Mumbai eager to regain momentum

The high-flying Sachin Tendulkar-led Mumbai Indians, one of the strong favourites for the title, were brought down by a Shane Warne-inspired Royals two days ago at Jaipur, owing to the visitors’ batting flop show.

Batting first, Mumbai were stopped at 94 for eight after their top order disintegrated and the lower order, led by big-hitting West Indian Kieron Pollard, failed to prop up the innings leading to a huge defeat, their second in seven matches and biggest thus far in the tournament.

But the hosts would fancy their chances against Punjab, who were occupying the eighth out of 10 spots on the points table following a comprehensive defeat to league toppers Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday night. A victory for Mumbai at the Wankhede stadium would put them back on top of the table and also back on track to become one of the earliest teams to book a berth in the four-strong play-off phase of the tournament starting on May 24.

Mumbai were pushed down the table by the Knight Riders on net run rate, though both are level on ten points apiece and Tendulkar would be galvanising his men to put up a much better show at home.

Tendulkar was simply unstoppable in the first few matches especially after his superb 100 not out against Kochi Tuskers Kerala on April 15 but the senior India batsman his performance has dipped in the last two games.

The success graph of the Punjab outfit, on the other hand, has gone in a zigzag manner. They have a 50 per cent success rate, their defeat against the Kolkata Knights Riders at the Eden Gardens on Saturday night being a dampener, considering they needed to travel to reach here on Sunday and take on the strong Mumbai away from home on Monday.

Punjab’s batting has simply not been up to the mark despite Mumbaikar Paul Valthaty’s early heroics and skipper Adam Gilchrist pyrotechnics.

Teams (from): Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Munaf Patel, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Andrew Symonds, Davy Jacobs, James Franklin, Dilhara Fernando, Ray Price, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Aditya Tare, Ali Murtaza, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pawan Suyal, R Satish, Sarul Kanwar, Suryakumar Yadav, T Suman, Yuzvendra Singh Chahai.

Kings XI Punjab: A Gilchrist, D Kaarthick, A Nayar, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Bhargav Bhatt, Bipul Sharma, Love Ablish, Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini, Paras Dogra, Paul Valthaty, Shalabh Srivastava, Siddharth Chitnis, Sunny Singh, Vikramjeet Malik, Amit Yadav, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Nathan Rimmongton, Ryan Harris, Ryan McLaren, David Miller.